Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives

[Rackham]

Shades of post 201 Contador (and his fans), just saying...

You wish.

People have been burying Rog since the 2022 season. It hasn't happened yet.

 

[Mayomaniac]

You wish.

People have been burying Rog since the 2022 season. It hasn't happened yet.

Yeah, I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Rackham]

Yeah, I hope I'm wrong.

Contador's case was a bit unique though. I mean there's literally a before 2010 & after.

Here with Rog it's an entirely different scenario where he's absolutely not 'the favorite' for the TdF & he'll throw everything but the kitchen sink at it (pun unintended) & see how the chips fall.

I just want to see him race well based on what he's currently capable of. I have no real 'expectations' i.e. I'm not here to dwell on GOAT conversations or power rankings or anything like that.

If he loses the Tour & someone jumps in & says "Rog is finished!"... who cares? Father time eventually catches up with everyone i.e. some day Evenepoel, Pog & Vinge will be old dudes riding around with Nadal-esque fandoms convinced their favorite riders have still got what it takes to beat the new upcoming talent.

Rinse repeat... for eternity. C'est la dure loi du sport. That's sport. In the meantime I hope he has a good time trial tomorrow (& doesn't ship too much time versus a rider like Evenepoel).

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Contador's case was a bit unique though. I mean there's literally a before 2010 & after.

Here with Rog it's an entirely different scenario where he's absolutely not 'the favorite' for the TdF & he'll throw everything but the kitchen sink at it (pun unintended) & see how the chips fall.

I just want to see him race well based on what he's currently capable of. I have no real 'expectations' i.e. I'm not here to dwell on GOAT conversations or power rankings or anything like that.

If he loses the Tour & someone jumps in & says "Rog is finished!"... who cares? Father time eventually catches up with everyone i.e. some day Evenepoel, Pog & Vinge will be old dudes riding around with Nadal-esque fandoms convinced their favorite riders have still got what it takes to beat the new upcoming talent.

Rinse repeat... for eternity. C'est la dure loi du sport. That's sport. In the meantime I hope he has a good time trial tomorrow (& doesn't ship too much time versus a rider like Evenepoel).

Good read, as always!

 

[Red Rick]

Most annoying part of this crash isn't that he's a favorite to win, but that 2nd in the Tour behind Pog would still be a big result.

 

[Rackham]

Most annoying part of this crash isn't that he's a favorite to win, but that 2nd in the Tour behind Pog would still be a big result.

You worry too much.

He'll smash the ITT tomorrow & all will be rosy again (I hope).

 

[JimPanzen]

Silly crash? Check.

Panicked fans? Check.

Body language analysis of the sprint in order to determine whether he could get out of the saddle or not? Check.

Some typical Rog style joke about his torn jersey in his post-stage interview? Check.

Yep, vintage Rogla going on right now. This show is just getting started as well. The Tour will be a wild ride!

Amazing rider, tragic hero, fair in defeat, always great attitude...how can you not like this guy.

 

[AmRacer]

Amazing rider, tragic hero, fair in defeat, always great attitude...how can you not like this guy.

Some people doesn't like suckers (wheel)

 

[JimPanzen]

Some people doesn't like suckers (wheel)

He has a reputation as a wheel sucker?

 

[johnymax]

He has a reputation as a wheel sucker?

Only by a bunch of posters on this forum.

 

[johnymax]

Hopefully he'll do a good TT tomorrow. A top 3 result would be nice.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Realistically, we were forcing it a bit anyway. Stage two and three, the bunch couldn't be reduced all that much as the route doesn't allow for it, so winning them was a bit of lottery in the first place. I like the fact they tried.

Now more and more we are going into the terrain on where hopefully a difference will be made. By Rogla and by Bora. They both need confirmation they are on the right track and this extended weekend hopefully to give us exactly that.

 

[bNator]

I really hope to be proven wrong tomorrow but Rogla looked to be on the limit today, judging from his immediate post race interview. The kind of “glassy” eyes he gets only after the hardest efforts…

 

[Peyroteo94]

I just don't see how will he follow Pogacar in sterratto terrain. This dude can't ride his bike without hitting the ground

 

[CyclistAbi]

I just don't see how will he follow Pogacar in sterratto terrain. This dude can't ride his bike without hitting the ground

They did that already in the past and it went fine for both. It's tarmac Rogla has a good relationship with and in a way that is an advantage, to be good in this discipline, considering all pro cyclists crash.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1798019802021146945

View: https://x.com/BORAhansgrohe/status/1798019802021146945

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

He has a reputation as a wheel sucker?

On the dramatic forum he does

 

[movingtarget]

Shades of post 2015 Contador (and his fans), just saying...

Contador did crash a lot in his later years unfortunately in the biggest races unlike riders like Gesink and VDB who simply crashed all the time while Evans, apart from his unfortunate 2008 Tour crash and the 2010 Tour one never seemed to crash much at all. Oddly both times he was in Yellow and both times a rider fell in front of him. Richie Porte often seemed to crash when he was in his best form !

 

[Berniece]

He has a reputation as a wheel sucker?

Yes. He rides to his strengths, unfortunately that results in wheel sucking.

 

[Rackham]

Yes. He rides to his strengths, unfortunately that results in wheel sucking.

In 655 pages (& in other threads), this topic (& argument) is like groundhog day here. It's the same thing over & over again every time. Aka something repeated ad-nauseum like the ultimate 'gotcha' to demonstrate Rog is not a great rider or something.

I'm usually not in the mood to answer but today I'll make an exception, so here goes: the entire notion of "wheel sucking & then MTF stomp = bad cycling" is so arbitrarily abstract in determining the 'quality' of riders to the point it's basically a hipster level variation of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter Tea Party in pro-cycling.

Point being: People pretending solo attacks from way out are 'better' than a rider who crushes a small group in a sprint is something I disagree with entirely. I like suspense, i.e. soloing to the line does nothing for me unless I'm a fan of the rider in question. Give me a Roglič or a Valverde win any day over the most famous solo victories. I mean case-in-point did neutral fans enjoy Mathieu Van der Poel's recent Roubaix win from an entertainment perspective? I don't think so.

So the point here is whenever people say 'Rog is a wheel sucker' in a pejorative way, I just shrug tbh. It means absolutely nothing beyond demonstrating that person doesn't like him. Which is fine because this is sport & everyone has their favorites but what I don't agree with is people hiding behind some made-up make believe hierarchy of racing styles which Rog 'conveniently' is at the bottom of.

It's just fandom making stuff up, i.e. like people arguing 'who is a better superhero' between Iron Man & Captain America.

It's... irrelevant. What matters is the rider being good at his speciality & in that regard, Roglič is one of the best MTF sprinters on steep gradients in the world... & arguably the best (Pog is quite good at that as well).

 

[Gargamel35]

In 655 pages (& in other threads), this topic (& argument) is like groundhog day here. It's the same thing over & over again every time. Aka something repeated ad-nauseum like the ultimate 'gotcha' to demonstrate Rog is not a great rider or something.

I'm usually not in the mood to answer but today I'll make an exception, so here goes: the entire notion of "wheel sucking & then MTF stomp = bad cycling" is so arbitrarily abstract in determining the 'quality' of riders to the point it's basically a hipster level variation of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter Tea Party in pro-cycling.

Point being: People pretending solo attacks from way out are 'better' than a rider who crushes a small group in a sprint is something I disagree with entirely. I like suspense, i.e. soloing to the line does nothing for me unless I'm a fan of the rider in question. Give me a Roglič or a Valverde win any day over the most famous solo victories. I mean case-in-point did neutral fans enjoy Mathieu Van der Poel's recent Roubaix win from an entertainment perspective? I don't think so.

So the point here is whenever people say 'Rog is a wheel sucker' in a pejorative way, I just shrug tbh. It means absolutely nothing beyond demonstrating that person doesn't like him. Which is fine because this is sport & everyone has their favorites but what I don't agree with is people hiding behind some made-up make believe hierarchy of racing styles which Rog 'conveniently' is at the bottom of.

It's just fandom making stuff up, i.e. like people arguing 'who is a better superhero' between Iron Man & Captain America.

It's... irrelevant. What matters is the rider being good at his speciality & in that regard, Roglič is one of the best MTF sprinters on steep gradients in the world... & arguably the best (Pog is quite good at that as well).

All true. But i tink he was one of the best. I'm not so sure he still is this year. Like i already said, i just want to see him 100% (whatever 100% really means and where will that put him, we don't know). And that means NO crashes, illnesses, etc. And then he goes and crashes himself. And now we won't know (again) how good he could be and how will this effect TdF preparations. Again.
All this while Pog is having a nuclear season with no setbacks.

 

[Rackham]

All true. But i tink he was one of the best. I'm not so sure he still is this year. Like i already said, i just want to see him 100% (whatever 100% really means and where will that put him, we don't know). And that means NO crashes, illnesses, etc. And then he goes and crashes himself. And now we won't know (again) how good he could be and how will this effect TdF preparations. Again.
All this while Pog is having a nuclear season with no setbacks.

Considering how flippant Rog was in his post-stage interview, I'd say he's absolutely fine. I think he must have landed in the grass, i.e. at least judging by how the jersey was torn. Either that or a cat attacked him.

I also think these crashes happen a lot to almost everyone; also in training when no one is filming. For example I was looking at Bob Jungels thinking what the hell happened to him, i.e. he started this Dauphiné with a large bandage on his left leg. It must have been a crash in Sierra Nevada.

The most annoying aspect of Rog's crash is the usual dogpiling from the Haters™ who don't miss an opportunity to twist the knife... but I just ignore it. Every stage brings its new headlines/controversies/dramas & people quickly move on.

 

[Berniece]

In 655 pages (& in other threads), this topic (& argument) is like groundhog day here. It's the same thing over & over again every time. Aka something repeated ad-nauseum like the ultimate 'gotcha' to demonstrate Rog is not a great rider or something.

I'm usually not in the mood to answer but today I'll make an exception, so here goes: the entire notion of "wheel sucking & then MTF stomp = bad cycling" is so arbitrarily abstract in determining the 'quality' of riders to the point it's basically a hipster level variation of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter Tea Party in pro-cycling.

Point being: People pretending solo attacks from way out are 'better' than a rider who crushes a small group in a sprint is something I disagree with entirely. I like suspense, i.e. soloing to the line does nothing for me unless I'm a fan of the rider in question. Give me a Roglič or a Valverde win any day over the most famous solo victories. I mean case-in-point did neutral fans enjoy Mathieu Van der Poel's recent Roubaix win from an entertainment perspective? I don't think so.

So the point here is whenever people say 'Rog is a wheel sucker' in a pejorative way, I just shrug tbh. It means absolutely nothing beyond demonstrating that person doesn't like him. Which is fine because this is sport & everyone has their favorites but what I don't agree with is people hiding behind some made-up make believe hierarchy of racing styles which Rog 'conveniently' is at the bottom of.

It's just fandom making stuff up, i.e. like people arguing 'who is a better superhero' between Iron Man & Captain America.

It's... irrelevant. What matters is the rider being good at his speciality & in that regard, Roglič is one of the best MTF sprinters on steep gradients in the world... & arguably the best (Pog is quite good at that as well).

You read a lot of things that haven't been said. In the end you talk about fandom, well next time just respond to what is said. No one is saying Roglic isn't a great rider. And I don't dislike Roglic... I dislike how he rides, huge difference. I find it boring, predictive and unsportmanlike, but the person Roglic I like.

You can have your opinion of course. If you like that he rides to his strengths and just attacks somewhere in the last 400m, go ahead that's your thing. When someone asks "does he have a reputation as a wheelsucker". The answer is yes. You don't dislike wheelsucking, fine, I do. You don't have to drag fandom or the person Roglic into it.

 

[Rackham]

You read a lot of things that haven't been said. In the end you talk about fandom, well next time just respond to what is said. No one is saying Roglic isn't a great rider. And I don't dislike Roglic... I dislike how he rides, huge difference. I find it boring, predictive and unsportmanlike, but the person Roglic I like.

You can have your opinion of course. If you like that he rides to his strengths and just attacks somewhere in the last 400m, go ahead that's your thing. When someone asks "does he have a reputation as a wheelsucker". The answer is yes. You don't dislike wheelsucking, fine, I do. You don't have to drag fandom or the person Roglic into it.

There's no such thing as a "wheel sucker".

It's a pejorative term invented by cycling hipster edgelords justifying their dislike of a rider with a made-up negative label applied based on an equally made up hierarchy of racing styles & tactics.

If Rog is a 'wheel sucker', then what's Mark Cavendish? The man literally sits on his teammates until the final hundred meters. What's the difference? Rog is on an uphill & Cav is on the flat? It seems quite arbitrary to me. Meanwhile I was never a fan of long distance raids, i.e. even less so a fan of the circle-jerking about these 'exploits' amongst fans. I hope Rog sits on Pog for the entire TdF tbh & we see online meltdowns like never before.

It makes me wonder why some people watch the sport of they get an anxiety attack over completely standard normal racing tactics.

 

[Berniece]

There's no such thing as a "wheel sucker".

Yes there is. Your whole premise is based on you thinking people dislike Roglic, and make stuff up, that isn't the case. Wheel sucking has been around long before Roglic sat on a bike. This was actually said by Eddy Merckx about Joop Zoetemelk.

 

[Rackham]

Yes there is. Your whole premise is based on you thinking people dislike Roglic, and make stuff up, that isn't the case. Wheel sucking has been around long before Roglic sat on a bike. This was actually said by Eddy Merckx about Joop Zoetemelk.

Ah Eddy, back in his days he didn't need Red Bull to give him wings, i.e. he had le pot belge!

Tbh the 'raid solitaire' exploits achieved by Merckx, Pantani & co in the latter half of the 20th belong in a museum. Fun, fun. But also straight out of a Stanley Kubrick science-fiction movie in terms of suspension of disbelief.

So my point stands.